We landed in Dubai and headed straight for Abu Dabi, an hours bus ride away, to stay with our new friend Graeme. We met this lovely chap via facebook as he is also taking part in the Rickshaw Run in September. He offered to let us stay with him in Abu Dabi and we jumped at the chance (apparently they only have 4 star or plus hotels in the UAE!). It was unbelievably hot in the middle East, 50 degrees or more, but the wonderful thing about that area of the world is the power of AirCon!
The phone number we had written down for Graeme didn't work so we decided it best to rock up at the British embassy, as we knew that he had some sort of dealings with them! The walk from the taxi to the gate (10 metres) left us soaked in sweat, and we asked the security guards if they might be able to get in contact with Graeme. They very kindly did, as it turns out he works just behind there office in the embassy, and they let us sit in the cool office while we waited for Graeme to come back from home, as at 3 he had already left (those expats and their laidback lifestyle!).
Anyway, turned out Graeme is super jolly and entusiastic about all things Abu Dabi and straight away we were walking around the Palace which is the most expensive building to have ever been built! Graeme lent us his car (a jeep with no AC-sweet!) which was so generous and useful as otherwise we would've been stuck in the flat all day everyday!
We spent the next three days visiting everything there is to visit in Abu Dabi. We took tea at the palace (quite outside our budget!) and had gold topped cheesecake which was the yummiest cheesecake I ever had! We visited the Grand Mosque which is just unbelievably beautiful, and holds lots of world records including the worlds biggest carpet (it is BIG) and the world's most expensive/large chandelier (around 50 million dollars!).
We also saw the world's biggest car and various other oddities owned by "The Rainbow Sheikh" and held in a big warehouse where few people bother to go (Graeme has been 3 times!).
It was so awesome spending time with Graeme, and we also met two of his teammates for the Rickshaw Run, so we're looking even more forward to it now!
After 3 days we headed back to Dubai to spend some time with Mark Hughes, a friend from Dhahran. He has an amazing flat in the marina, but unfortunately for Mark he works ridiculously long hours so barely has time to appreciate it! Nick and I spent our days watching Extras on DVD and our evenings out for dinner with Mark. It was so great to have some down time and just relax before hitting India.
But hit India we have and by jimminy it's insane! People always tell you about the poverty but you just cannot imagine it until you see it. During the day you become used to seeing families sitting in the street surrounded by the few things they have and the kids begging for money or just a drink of water. But it's nighttime it really gets you. To get to our hotel on the fourth floor of a building, we walk over sleeping families, and when we returned last night a father was laying his child down for the night on a thin sheet outside the elevator shaft on the second floor. It is insane how divided the rich and the poor of this country are.
We have only seen Mumbai thus far, and we had an amazing first couple days with our couchsurfing host Hemal. We were his first ever couchsurfing guests, and having seen that I am an artist on our profile he heard about an event this past Saturday and knew he had to take us along.
There is a wall in Mumbai running along the railway line that up until Saturday was brown and dirty. The government, after encouragement from a group of graffiti artists, invited anyone and everyone to paint the wall, even providing a van full of paints and brushes. Hemal is a big Michael Jackson fan, so Nick, Hemal, Umang (Hemal's brother) and I did a Michael Jackson tribute mural! It was a great way to spend our first day in Mumbai. We got on the news and in the Sunday Times of India! Pictures and quotes! Not bad eh?
The last few days have been spent generally trying to get things done and not getting very far. Mumbai is FRUSTRATINGLY slow. It took us 3 days to get anyone to agree to give us a sim card, even after following all their instructions. You have to give all your information before getting anywhere near an internet cafe, and it took us 3 hours today to send some parcels home. They SEW UP THE PARCELS. With a needle. And string. And then you tie the custom declaration form to the parcel and write on it with a black marker. It looks great but it takes forever to get done.
So we're looking forward to getting our train out of this crazy place tomorrow morning and heading for Kerala where we hope things will be slightly less hectic.
On a positive note though, we visited a charmingly named restaurant called Gaylord last night and ate the best curry of our lives. We are looking forward to the yummy curry trend continuing. And as of 8.08pm Indian time on this day the 19th of August 2009 there are still no jippy tummies...yet. Watch this space.
Natty
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